Death's Apprentice
by Lenle.G
Summary: Naruto is injured, and 'dies' saving Sasuke from school bullies, becoming the apprentice of Death himself. Naruto is sent back to his hometown, Konoha, and sees Sasuke again, but can Sasuke see him? My first fanfic, reviews would be really good please xxx
1. Chapter 1

Death's Apprentice.

The delicate tears of angels are fragile things. Easily made. Easily broken.

They slide down the cheeks of mortals as their loved ones are taken from them by the emissary of the angels.

Death.

And now I belong to him. I took the gamble in the game of death and lost… so now I'm his apprentice.

The apprentice of Death.

Great…

One

Ok… so you want the truth?

It all started in a toilet.

Stop laughing… I'm serious…

It was the out-of-order girl's bathroom on the fifth floor at our school Konoha High. It's been out of order for years, so no-one ever goes in there.

And as no-one ever goes in there, it's quiet... except... it's not always quiet, as it just so happens to be where all the bouncing broad-shouldered bullies like to hang out... sometimes... Oh! Don't mistake me for one of them.

'Hi' by the way.

I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Urm… Well... I... the thing is...

Huh.

Not a great start…

But then… I don't suppose I'm not sure I'm much of a storyteller.

I'm just the guy it happened to.

I was only 15, just your average teen, trying to get my first job on average grades with a less-than-average appearance… blond hair, blue eyes, tanned skin… the funny thing is I wasn't even friends with Sasuke, we didn't even talk.

Why did I ever get involved?

It wasn't my fault. I swear it.

Look, there's this one boy in our class, a real geek, with jet black hair and white skin like porcelain. The guy seriously looks like a china doll, and he's always got his nose pressed to the pages of a book – like he's trying to eat it instead of read it. Real fan of studying is Sasuke – that's his name; Sasuke Uchiha – capable of winning a 'geek of the centaury' award…

Sasuke does nearly everyone's homework for them; he's just too much of a wimp to refuse. I kind of feel a bit sorry for him, but if I was actually caught admitting that I'd probably end up in the school dustbins - broken and bleeding. The bullies at our school are tough. And I mean… tough on a whole new level… tough as in 'snap you in half if you look at them the wrong way' tough… and good old Uchiha must have looked at them in the 'wrong' way a awful lot… because they seemed to be stuffing his head in the latrines all the time.

Toilet dunking.

The bully's favourite sport.

Uchiha would never admit it, but he comes to class with his hair dripping wet, sometimes bruised, or bleeding, and sometimes other guy's in our class claim to have heard the out-of-order girl's toilet's flushing while he yells. Man, life must suck for him.

So that's what Uchiha gets for bothering with doing their homework for them…

He gets his head dunked in a toilet.

And... This particular time... mine too.

We play football every day after school. Except Fridays. We can't play because I go to music class's afterschool, and they know they'd lose the match without me.

The star player.

I can score a goal from the other side of the field easy. I love football, and usually wouldn't miss a match, but Mum wants me to learn to be 'musical'. I play the violin of all things. I tell everyone I go to karate classes so no-one thinks I'm a wimp.

Thing is, where I live playing an instrument is for geeks.

Geeks like Sasuke Uchiha.

And no-one wants to be like Sasuke.

Now I think about it. Maybe I should have taken self-defence classes instead. Then maybe I wouldn't have got into this mess. Bet Mum wishes she'd let me go now…

Anyway…

We were playing football. The usual kinda game, there's me and my best mate Kiba, and when we're on the same side, we thrash all opposition. We're always first to be picked for teams, though more recently we've both been team captains, and we pick.

In this particular game, my side was winning 7-2, I'd scored six of our goals, but it was only because Kiba was out sick.

If he'd been there, maybe the whole situation could have been avoided.

It was fate I guess.

I'm laughing at myself just saying it.

I packed up my kit after the game and realised I'd left my school bag in our classroom of all things; I should have just left it, but…

It was as I walked past the girl's bathroom – I heard him yelling. I could hear the splash as his head was submerged in the bowl. I could hear the boy's laughing. I could hear him shouting.

I could have just walked away.

I took a deep breath.

Ready to walk away…

"For god sake somebody help me!"

I froze. I stared round, waiting for someone to rush to his rescue. It was only me.

Alone.

I must be mad.

But I couldn't just ignore him.

I pushed the door open.

"Oi, what exactly do you think you guys are doing in here?"

The authority in my own voice shocked me.

My eyes met Sasuke's under his dripping hair.

No going back now.

Sasuke was on his knees, his glasses lay discarded on the floor, he made a scrabble for them, and one of the boys stood on his fingers. I winced as the boy applied pressure and Sasuke's fingers gave a pitiful crunch.

"Leave him alone" my voice sounded less confident now – the boy noticed. He stopped crushing Sasuke's fingers – allowing him to jam his glasses back onto his nose – and smirked at me.

It was then I noticed that his teeth were all crooked giving him the grin of a shark. That completely set me off, I'm no wimp, but these guys are just something else... I tensed my knees, ready to run back out the door. Sasuke gave a spluttering whimper from the floor and I froze.

I swore violently and turned back to face the boy's.

They were laughing.

The first boy – the one with the freaky teeth, had hair reminiscent to a coconut – wavy and all over the place, it stuck up at odd angles in places, and lay flat in others. He had a face like he's just ran into a brick wall – his pudgy features all squashed into his flat nose. His eyes were tiny black crinkles in his head and his angled teeth stuck out in such a way I wondered why I had never noticed them before – not that I'd ever dared come close enough to…

The second boy had short wiry stubble, and his head was shaped perfectly like an American football. One of his eyes twitched oddly as he leered at me, which made half want to laugh, and half want to hide behind a toilet cubicle door or something. The boy's ears were misshapen and stuck out on either side of his head a thousand times more than Prince Charles'. He was built like a rock, his school shirt so splattered in grass stains that he perfectly resembled a large mossy boulder. But worst of all was his nose – a puffy disfigured array of blubber and pus. I couldn't tell what disfigured it – but they looked like pussy yellowing warts of some kind. I instantly felt slightly sick.

The last boy was smaller than the other two; he stood back slightly from them, but laughed just as hard. He had a thin pointed face – like a rat's. Scrubby dark hair was plastered down the sides of his face, and his front teeth stuck out a mile. I had the peculiar idea he might bite me, which made my mouth twitch in a slight smile as I surveyed them.

Coconut head,

Lumpy Nose,

Rat Teeth.

And all three of them stank. They'd probably never heard of a bath. Their uniforms were crumpled messes, and I was fairly sure that there was not even one single brain cell between the three of them. Three faces that not even a mother could love.

Not that I'd ever say that to them.

It suddenly stuck me how much bigger they were they me. Leering in my direction, then circling round between me and the door.

Blocking my escape route.

Leaving Sasuke with a 'get home free' ticket to the door.

With a yelp he dashed for it, pausing only for a moment to wrench the door open before leaping outside to freedom like a startled deer.

My heart sank.

Sasuke had just abandoned his saviour – spineless git.

Any confidence I had left seeped from my body and was replaced with a feeling of foreboding.

I stared after him in disbelief.

I turned back to face Coconut head, Lumpy Nose, and Rat Teeth.

The three livid red faces of the three thugs scowled back at me.

I'd lost them their _prey_.

I'd saved their _prey_.

I'd become their _prey_.

Coconut head and Lumpy nose grabbed one of my arms each and pinned them behind my back with identical vice-like grips. I struggled against them, kicking them in the shins in a bid to free myself.

It was like kicking a brick wall.

Solid.

Rat Teeth walked round to face me, for a moment I feared he was about to sink his over-sized font teeth into me, but instead he opted for a hard punch in the stomach. I was instantly winded and doubled over as far as the other two boys allowed. I tried to call for help as Sasuke had.

My voice came out as a feeble whimper.

But no-one would hear me anyway. Even if they did, no-one would come and help me. No-one ever helps the bullies _prey_.

Or they end up as...

They swung me towards the toilet bowl.

No.

No.

No…

Surely they wouldn't dunk me… would they?

I broke into a cold sweat as they forced me to my knees before the flaking white toilet.

I took a deep breath preparing for the worst.

"This'll be fun… we've neva dunked u before av we? Firrzt times always the wurst…. For you anyway…" Rat Teeth leant down close and sniggered in my ear, his scratchy voice not much more than a whisper. I felt his putrid breath against my face, causing my stomach to do a back flip.

Ratty then pressed his piercing fingers against the base of my neck, forcing my head down, despite my struggles, until it was a couple of inches above the bowl.

I closed my eyes, blocking the view of my fate – a grimy toilet bowl – from view. I took a few more desperate deep breaths, close to hyperventilating.

I hung there, above the toilet, for what seemed like an age.

The hand tightened round the back of my neck.

My face was thrust forwards and my head plunged into the bowl.

I cried out as the ice-cold water stung me face under impact. My forced my mouth shut again, just in time to feel the rush of the bubbles burst against by cheek and slither to the surface. I distantly heard one of the boy's pull the chain.

My world became a foaming torrent of white and blue flashes. My lungs were bursting. It felt like an iron band had wrapped itself around me and was crushing my ribs. My head clunked against the porcelain sides as water forced open my mouth and rushed into it. A torrent of my own bubbles broke the surface then stopped. I realised I'd run out of air. My hair felt like it was being ripped from my head as the suction of the drain played a furious game of tug-a-war with my head, pulling me down further. I had a wild thought that it might all fall out and I'd go bald or something. There was no more air in my lungs. I couldn't _breathe_.

The iron band got tighter and tighter. I screamed out but no sound was created. Just the endless dark screaming inside my head. Stars burst behind my eyes. Blood pounded like a drum in my head. I could feel the echo of my own heartbeat. Darkness was closing in. I stopped struggling.

I fell limp.

The hand that had been holding me down gripped the back of my hair and wrenched by back up into the air.

I broke the surface gasping.

Trust me; I'd never take air for granted again.

Do those in the hands of Death breathe…? I've never really thought about it….

I dared not open my eyes.

I hung limply from the boy's hand.

"Oh my god… you've killed him!"

I could hear the bullies, unsure whether they were panicking or laughing at me.

My eyes flickered open.

They were laughing.

The boy dropped me - in a sodden heap on the floor.

I rolled over, feeling sick and dizzy.

Water slid from my saturated hair to slide in rivulets down my cheeks to decidedly slither across my lips. My head span. I closed my eyes again.

"Ey you? You dead or not dead?"

I dared not answer as the boy pulled on my shirt collar and shook me like a rag doll.

"I said… yoo…" But he never finished his sentence. I'd kicked him in the stomach with all the effort my exhausted frame could manage.

And it did the trick.

He dropped me.

I scrambled away, realising the impact of the floor had left two bloody gashes across my knees.

The two bigger boys – Coconut head and Lumpy Nose – lumbered towards me like a pair of Frankenstein's monsters, you know, from that old horror movie... we watched it in English once. I think we were supposed to read the book too... I never did.

I tried to dart out of the way, but the sheer size of the boy's was inescapable.

The floor rushed towards me with an alarming speed.

I closed my eyes – hearing the sickening impact of my body against the floor.

I wondered if the boy's were grinning stupidly at the resounding crunch I'd made.

I opened my eyes and pushed a hand under me in a vain attempt to sit up.

I was rewarded with a sharp pain like a thousand bringing needles piercing me arm.

There was a sharp *crack*.

And my arm went limp.

I knew it must be broken.

Coconut head and Lumpy Nose were lumbering towards me once more – Rat Teeth laughed piercingly behind them.

I was trapped in a corner with no-where to run.

The two boys grabbed each of my arms once more.

No.

No more.

I wouldn't take anymore.

I struggled with all my might. Pain filled my head as I screamed with for all my lungs were worth. My arm felt like it would fall off as it was forced behind my back.

I screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

But the boy's hung on to me grimly.

I was hoisted up over the toilet.

Not again…

Please not again…

My struggles became weaker – like a fish out of water…

My kicks were useless.

My feeble attempts at punching them were pathetic.

Let's face it – I hadn't stood a chance.

I swore if I died I would haunt them for the rest of my life… or death…

I hung, my feet kicking thin air as I was wrenched from the floor.

My arms felt as if they would fall out of their sockets.

My mouth hung open in a silent scream.

Then they let me go.

I'm not religious – but right then I prayed to every God I could think of.

I remember dropping, a crack, a pain in my head then… nothing…

Blackness.

The sound of footsteps.

People shouting.

A siren.

People running.

Hysterical screams.

People calling _my_ name?

Someone crying.

_Why?_

My body felt heavy, my eyelids felt as if leaden weights prevented them from opening. I couldn't lift so much as a finger. My stomach stirred. My head span. Blackness reined the world of my vision. There was something hot and sticky seeping down from my forehead onto my cheeks.

A warm pair of hands brushed against my face.

Someone else's tears dripped onto my skin.

Salty.

Fragile, delicate tears.

The tears of the angels from the eyes of a mortal.

Someone else was moving my body.

Fabric brushed against my skin.

I felt strong arms lift me.

A woman's voice.

She was shouting to someone.

Her voice was so desperate, I wanted to sit up and comfort her.

But my body was too heavy.

"He's going to be all right isn't he? Please, please tell me he'll be ok…"

Mum?

Was that Mum's voice?

More sirens, getting louder.

I heard an engine start nearby me.

A car starting?

More sirens… an ambulance?

I felt the motion of the vehicle rock me, ever so slightly.

Fuzzy greyness filled my head like cotton wool.

Someone was holding my hand.

I could still hear voices, but they were fainter now.

The sound of a machine.

A soft thumping noise, it was rhythmic and slow, like it hurt to keep going.

A high pitched bleep echoed in perfect time to the regular pounding.

_My heartbeat…_ I realised.

I felt the prick of a needle on my skin.

Something was pressed over my nose and mouth.

The pain was sliding away from my body.

"Hold on Naruto, just hold on sweetie… please… for god sake Naruto… hold on…"

Mum…

Then… just… blackness…

Nothing.

I'd passed from the world… into the arms of the angels.

Into the clutches of Death.


	2. Chapter 2

Two

I remembered when I used to play with my little sister Sakura. We used to have tea-parties under the dining-room table. She used to insist it was her magical castle where she was princess, and all her teddies would have to bow down to her… of course… I was always her slave.

"You there… slave… fetch me some more tea for me and Mr. Twinkie…"

Mr Twinkie was her favourite teddy… Gran had knitted him for her when she was a baby and I used to sit him up by her cot and make him sing "Twinkle twinkle little star" over and over again in a squeaky voice until she fell asleep… so his name became Mr. Twinkie. We were never sure what Mr. Twinkie was supposed to be. He was sort of, half floppy pink sausage dog, half a sort of greyish mouse with a cute tail, and he had a long trunk like an elephant. Mr. Twinkie also used to wear a blue knitted cardigan, but Sakura used to try and eat the buttons so we had to take them off, and then she lost it altogether. I remember he'd been made of red wool once, but it faded with age to a greyish pink. She left him at a service station in Dover once, we'd got half way home when she woke up and realised he was missing. She howled her head off and made Dad turn around and drive all the way back. Believe me, he wasn't pleased.

So from then on Sakura and Mr. Twinkie were inseparable, she took him everywhere – to the cinema, to the ice-cream store, to the loo…

She's literally loved him to pieces.

When she got older, she stopped taking him everywhere.

He sits on one of her shelves, looking forlornly down at her with sad beaded eyes watching her play with her tea set with her junior school friends.

I think secretly, she takes him down at night to cuddle him, but she'd never admit it.

Sakura is six now… it's her seventh birthday in a month…

But no, Mr. Twinkie isn't 'cool' because all her friends have huge plush teddies with large satin bows and straps that attach though their pink shiny fold-away scooters…

Why am I thinking about Sakura and Mr. Twinkie of all things?

I can't help it….

It's like we're all together – having a picnic under the table again…

But we're not.

I'm alone… just sort of… floating in darkness.

I can't feel my body.

I wiggle my fingers.

Nothing.

"Mummy, why won't 'Ruto wake up? I want him to play with me… Mummy…it's not fair! Mummy make him wake up!"

"I'm sorry sweetheart… I… I can't… now be a good girl… can you do that for me darling…?"

"Yes Mummy…"

"That's my girl… my big brave girl…"

"'Ruto… I'm giving you Mr. Twinkie… you better look after him… until you wake up... then I want him back… because you're only borrowing him… I'll put him here by you head… you'd better not get him dirty… or…" she started crying and her voice faded off into the darkness…

For the last time.

My head ached.

Like a drum pounding in it.

It wouldn't stop.

Thump, thump, thump….

I thought about closing my eyes, but I didn't know if they were already closed or not.

It was just black either way.

Then…

Light…

It was getting lighter… I was sure of it…

Lighter… and lighter… until…

"Right, up you get son, take it nice and slow... careful now…"

My eyes must have been closed, because I felt myself open them.

My body felt weightless, distant, surreal… like a fake plastic model.

There was no more pain.

No more drums.

Not any more…

Just… freedom…

I looked up at the man who and spoken to me.

I looked into the eyes of Death.

And laughed.

Ok so you're wondering why I laughed... right?

Look, I bet you've pictured this guy 'Death' as a sombre grim-reaper dude complete with scythe and black hooded cloak…I'm right aren't I?

Yes?

That's because that's how I'd pictured him too.

However… what I saw was a slightly chubby, balding middle-aged man in a frayed inky-blue-black tunic with a bristly moustache and round glasses. He carried a clipboard and there was no sign of a single scythe in sight.

I had to laugh – I mean, this guy was better suited to being Sasuke's uncle or something…

So how did I know he was 'Death' himself?

Pinned to the front of his tunic was a little plastic ID badge with curly writing that said;

"_G. Reaper._

_Fully qualified Death ready to welcome you to the afterlife._

_Feel free to ask questions, but you might not want to know the answers."_

It looked like something a tour guide, or a visitor to an office or school might wear…

"So… what happened to you?" he sighed, waiting with a black biro pen poised over the clipboard.

"Excuse me?" I laughed again – the man was about two times smaller than me, barely coming up to my shoulder and I'm not exactly the world's tallest boy.

"You've died" he told me, as if it was as normal as putting on a kettle to make a cup of tea.

"I… died?"

I wanted someone to throw a custard pie in my face and yell "only joking" like some crazy reality TV game-show… but the man's sombre expression told me no-one was going to.

I swallowed.

Hard.

"I _died_?" I repeated, half believing my words, half not - "how?"

He looked at me – his distain apparent.

"That's, what I was asking you…"

I stared at him;

"Well, urm… if I died…"

He was beginning to look impatient;

"Start with the last thing you remember and work from there kid."

"Sasuke!" I remembered "it's all his fault!" - even now I still hate myself for blaming him. "I was trying to help the ungrateful git and he left me to tackle those bullies myself! How was I supposed to do anything? I ended up… well I guess… urm…"

"What?" - Now he sounded just plain bored…

"I guess I got my head stuffed down a bog."

He stared at me; a mild interest was gleaming in his eyes;

"A 'bog'?"

I nodded, embarrassed – I mean, it's not exactly the best way to go is it?

He began laughing.

"Two hundred and twelfth toilet related accident this year, let's see…" he flicked through the paper attached to his clipboard – thousands of hand-written records on each page. He scanned his finger down on.

"Here we are… Elvis Presley – method of death – toilet related, choice; to go on."

"Great" I said "that's just great".

He peered over the top of his glasses at me and pulled a role of blank sticky labels from his robe pocket.

"You have a choice"

"A choice?" I asked, shrugging, whatever he was talking about, I didn't really care… it didn't matter to me what my choice was… I'd died… that's it… the end… or… was it?

"You can either choose to… let's see… name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki" I told him and he flicked though his sheets of paper with practiced speed. "Here we are - Naruto Uzumaki number four thousand and ninety one" he read out. He wrote out my name and number out on a sticky label and stuck it to the front of my school shirt.

I looked down at myself.

I was still dressed in my school uniform – it was ripped down the side, my tie was missing and I was slathered in muck off the bathroom floor.

_Great._

"Takes practice to get writing that neat" Death told me.

"Right…" I said, thinking of my own spidery scrawl "So… what's my choice?" I asked while he smiled at his own loopy joined-up handwriting.

"Well, see those two doors over there?"

I looked where he pointed and saw two identical doors with white plaques hanging from them, the first read "Earth" and the second said quite simply "On" in a bold plastic font that looked like it'd been typed on a computer.

I nodded and glanced around the rest of the room.

White.

Just four white walls, the two doors, 'Death' and…

A queue of people behind me, men, women and a few children, all waiting patiently together.

"You'd better listen to him dear…" an old woman with a kind face and wrinkles stood smiling just behind me, at the end of the line more people appeared, shaking their heads wondering what had happened – one man appeared to have jumped off a bridge or something, as he was sopping wet and still yelling as he materialised.

I turned back to Death; he was looking impatiently up at me;

"I've got a queue of people to make their decision, so make a quick decision please. Now then, you choose which door you want to walk through – the first one, marked 'Earth' takes you back to where you died, and you can haunt it in peace, and the second door marked 'On' well. It takes you _Onwards_."

"What do you mean… onwards?" I asked, shaking my head. He laughed;

"It's more than my job's worth to tell you that Lad"

I turned to look at both doors – over and over I read the label on the door marked 'Earth…

I could go back… I might be able to see Mum and Dad and Sakura again... haunting the boy's who killed me might be fun… I suppose…

But don't get me wrong, I'm no Moaning Myrtle, I'm not sad enough to haunt a girl's bog…

I switched my gaze to the other door – it looked older, it's paint slightly more worn, and the handle looked as if it had been used many more times than the door to Earth. _'On'_

But what was... what he called 'going On' anyway?

Heaven? Hell?

Or something else…

There could be nothing behind that door… or it could all be one big crazy practical joke… I'd seen things like it on the TV…

I wouldn't put it passed some of my mates at school to have set me up…

I smiled weakly, not much of a choice really was it?

I looked back pleadingly at Death, - he remained stony faced and sombre…

"I don't want to do either" I told him in a small pathetic voice – causing him to laugh more;

"You can't just stand there – you're dead... remember? Now hurry up and pick… or I'll pick for you…"

I think now he was probably only trying to make me panic enough to hurry up with my decision – but at the time, he scared me.

"Ahem" - I looked round to see a tiny elf-shaped figure carrying a… mirror?

It was a beautifully engraved work – its gold frame filled with roses whose vines wrapped skilfully around a series of… _skulls?_ I remember thinking the artist must have been very talented.

I looked into the mirror – seeing the pale, shaky form of a gaunt teenage boy in his torn school uniform.

Then I looked next to me, at the reflection of Death.

I froze.

It was then I truly saw Death.

Death was a tall, thin man, with large dark circles around the beetle black eyes set into his skeletal, pasty white face.

He was dressed in a thick dark robe made out of what looked the black threads of a glistening spider's webs. Long, gaunt, twig-like fingers, with gnarled knuckles protruded from the frayed ends of his dark, hooded robe. Between the spidery fingers of one hand was grasped the pole of a scythe.

The stereotypical Death I'd expected after all.

It wasn't cold, but I still found myself shivering.

I looked from the dark figure in the reflection to the dumpy, thin on top, ageing man next to me.

He looked across at me and sighed.

"I suppose now you've seen that you a little more scared of me?" his voice had changed from a mildly bored man to a dull, drawling, moan that sounded almost... _inhuman_?

"Not really" I lied, the sudden contrast had made me jumpy, but the figure of Death in the mirror was more or less what I'd expected in the first place. "Why don't you look like that all the time?" I asked, pointing at the skeletal reflection. He smiled, and the gaunt cheek bones of the reflection grinned with him – showing rows of blackened decayed teeth.

"It scares the poor old dears, and we can't have that, now _can_ we?" We laughed together for a moment "You, Elf, put that over there for me will you?" Death pointed a chubby finger like a miniature jam-roly poly, and his reflection raised his bony hand towards the far corner of the room, then he turned his attention back to me.

"You're a pretty smart kid you know. Shame you can't make such an easy choice. I'll do you a deal, pick a door and…"

"Excuse me…" - Death glared down at the tiny figure pulling on his long woven sleeve, I've got news from…" he glanced at me "You-Know-Who".

I couldn't help but laugh, the elf stared sternly at me, but 'You-Know-Who' sounded too much like that 'Lord Vold-e-mort' guy out of _Harry Potter_, my life (or did I mean death?) suddenly seemed crazy… mad… stark raving bonkers.

Or maybe I was going crazy…

Death ignored my spluttering and frowned as he bent down so the elf could whisper something in his ear.

He frowned harder.

"What do you mean he's 'not'…"

"SHUSH!" the skinny elf looked pointedly at me as he cut Death's sentence off "listen" he bent closer to his ear and whispered in it.

I stood there waiting for my fate to be decided.

_Great._

Death stood up again, and looked across at me.

"This is my old Apprentice, he quit on me two weeks ago, took another job as a caretaker" he pointed to the nervous looking Elf "you can't imagine the work that's piled up… anyway, the point is, - I'm going to change my offer…

Become my Apprentice."

_Apprentice?_

An_ Apprentice of Death_?

"Apprentice?" I asked.

"You know, just, help me out a bit… with paper work and errands, and that sort of thing… only if you want to…" he smiled at me, almost, proudly? "You could go back down to Earth, on errands; you could see your family again… if you wanted"

He must have known at the time that was what I wanted more than anything, he knew he's just made me an offer I couldn't ever refuse.

No-one who cared a jolt for their family could refuse.

Well, what would you have done…?

"Sure" I said "I'll be your Apprentice…"

And that was how it all began I guess…


	3. Chapter 3

Three

"Be my Apprentice."

I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd refused; I'd probably still be stuck there making my choice.

Or on Earth haunting a toilet.

Or... I might have gone... On...

_Who knows?_

God maybe - lols. XD

But it's not a joke.

Never was.

No custard pies.

No surprises.

Not a Joke.

I wanted to wake up from the crazy dream... but I was already awake… sort of...

I turned to Death.

"Sure" I said "I'll be your Apprentice"

That that was just the start.

Death left the new-comers with the Elf, who had somehow stepped through the weird mirror-thing, and walked out the back of the frame, looking the exact replica of the middle-aged man Death had been posing as.

"We can change our form with that mirror, like putting on a new skin..." Death walked through the mirror as the elf took his place at the front of the queue with his clipboard and began asking questions and ticking off names. He emerged from the other end the dark skeletal figure I had seen in his reflection. "The mirror shows your true from, walking backwards though it reverts you back to it... so you become yourself again, it also works in reverse, so you can look like someone else, understand?" I nodded the affirmative "...ok then, in that case… you try..." I stared at him.

"Me?"

He frowned.

"Who else? Now, stand there, no, further to the left. In _front_ of the mirror..." I stared into the mirror, seeing my own paled face stare back at me I edged slightly to the left so my whole body could be seen inside the frame. I was sure it was... _glowing?_ "Right..." Death smiled his thin cheekbones lifting eerily, it didn't suit him "now, put your hands against the glass..." I did so, seeing the pale boy in the mirror raise his hands with mine, at once the mirror glowed brighter and _green...?_ A kind of mist was surrounding me, I felt my feet lift from the floor and move towards the mirror. The surface rippled under my fingertips and slithered up my arms, a thick shiny liquid tugging at me from my wrists. It was _sucking me in_. I gave Death a panicked look, he remained stonily sombre. "Right Naruto..." the use of my name jerked me, the panic was fading... "Picture what you want to look like... anyone will do... just pick a face... and imagine yourself looking like that... but Naruto, it has to be someone you know exists, alive or dead, or the mirror will claim your soul."

"My soul?"

He leered at me, his smile striking fear into my heart.

"You'll cease to exist... poof... no more Naruto Uzumaki... just like the last person I decided to make my apprentice..." a far-away look crossed his eyes... as if remembering all the past Apprentices he'd lost to a mirror...

"What?" that hadn't been part of the bargain... I looked up in fear; the silvery glass of the mirror was inches from my nose..."How do you stop this thing!" I howled.

The slivery liquidised mirror flowed over my face, through my hair. I couldn't feel my body. Images of all the people I knew flashed though my mind. How was I supposed to pick one...? I was going to end up gone, I just knew it... I shouted to Death but I couldn't hear my own voice.

I heard his though, ringing in my ears as I struggled and yelled.

"You're so slow. Hurry it up"

_The little elf guy must have been able to pass this test through the mirror... to become his apprentice in the first place._ I realised. Yup... that must be it - If he'd become Death's Apprentice and then quit… he must have passed this trial first.

I closed my mouth and stopped shouting.

I reached out my hands before me into what seemed an endless expanse.

I concentrated.

I'm not one to lose to some weird elf.

I closed my eyes… at least I think I did, it was hard to tell…

I pictured the first person who came into my head.

And I stepped out the other side.

But I wasn't me anymore…

"Fwahahahahaha!" I stared at Death, he was… laughing at me…

_Great._

I looked down at my hands and froze.

They were skeletal, white tendrils of fleshless bone poking out from a black woven robe. A soft heavy hood rested lazily on my head, and as I reached up my hands to touch where my scruffy mop of blond hair should have been I found only the smooth hard bone of my skull. I whipped round and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

I'd done it!

I looked exactly like Death himself...

Weird.

Death wiped a tear of laughter from a sunken eye and beamed at me.

"That's a first" he nodded to me "they usually choose friends, family, pets occasionally…"

"Pets?" I asked "you could look like a dog… or a cat... or a fox?" I heard Death's voice though my mouth it was surreal. Death looked at me oddly, obviously a little disturbed to be hearing his own sinister voice. Or at the idea of keeping a fox as a pet. Not quite sure which. Personally I think a fox'd make a dam cool pet... once trained. Like mum would ever let me anyway.

"That would be why I said it, it has to be someone you know though... right, back though you go again, try picturing…"

I could turn into anything…

I thought of my neighbour Mr Andrew's horrible pit-bull, then Miss Dewbry, our English teacher's fluffy Persian puffball who lazed about all day eating tuna… eugh…. It's not like I'd want to be one of them… or maybe I could be Mum, or Dad, or Sakura… in fact, thinking about it, I could probably even look like Mr. Twinkie! Oh no... Maybe not... they have to live, or have lived after all... Thinking of the place back home made my eyes itch as tears wanted to spring unbidden to them.

_What would they do without me?_

Sakura would cry; I know that, she's such a cry-baby anyway… I wonder if Mum would… probably… but I can't imagine Dad crying… I wonder when my funeral was… what if…

"Death to NARUTO UZUMAKI… Hello? Anybody home?"

Death to me?

_Huh... Literally_. I thought…

I looked up at him.

"_What?_" I asked. He sighed exasperated.

"We're you listening to a word I said?"

I shook my head.

"Nope".

"Back though the mirror, picture yourself please… no messing about. Think of it like taking off a coat…"

"Pretty creepy coat" I said looking at myself in the mirror.

"Yes well, just go." And he gave me a gentle push.

I jumped straight though, imagining myself exactly, from the brown hair and blue eyes, right down to the chips in my fingernails.

I looked at my hands – normal.

I looked at my reflection – normal.

I looked at my watch – out of habit - it had stopped at the exact second I must have died.

4 hours in the afternoon, seventeen minuets, and 37 seconds.

It made me shiver.

"Onward then?" asked Death.

I nodded cautiously "yeah, just tell me if I could end up losing my soul before you push me into freaky mirrors right?"

He just laughed.

"You wouldn't have done it otherwise"

_No. I wouldn't._ I thought silently agreeing with him.

But I didn't dare say it.

It ended up as th_ee _actual weirdest night of my life.

Weird.

Plain and simple.

I was led to a small room off the main chamber, though a floaty kinda door, that I was fairly sure hadn't been there before. Inside was a small room with a hammock slung between two walls. The wall behind me and to the left and right, where the hammock was suspended, were made of grey solid stone that sloped infinitely into the ceiling. The wall directly in front of me was an obscure barrier of thick grey mist; a soft buzzing seemed to be emitted from it.

I took a step closer and Death silently closed the door behind me.

I pulled myself up onto the hammock; I sat and began swinging back and forth waiting for… something but nothing I suppose…, I stared into space and found myself listening to the buzzing.

I slid off the hammock, towards the white, misty wall, the buzzing got louder in my brain.

The door behind me opened again, Death was back. I spun round. He held out a blanket;

"Get some sleep... and make sure you don't touch that wall" he nodded to the sea of mist behind me.

I nodded, took the blanket, and he left.

I lay on the hammock, listening to the annoying buzzing. Picture a million angry wasps drumming in your brain - that's about it. I pulled the blanket over me. It was rough and itchy against my pale skin.

I closed my eyes.

At one the buzzing turned into the whispering of thousands, their words jumbled and undefined but so quiet...

I opened my eyes again.

Just plain, annoying buzzing.

_I can only hear them when I close my eyes. _I realised.

So I closed them again.

Whispering.

Someone, something... thousands of them... they were talking all at once.

To me.

About me...

"Who are you?"I wondered aloud, stretching out my fingertips above me with closed eyes.

They reached nothing.

Like leaden weights my arms dropped to my sides.

My body felt heavy, like I was sinking into the fabric of the hammock.

It was warm and soft.

Like bouncing on clouds.

And before I knew it.

I'd fallen asleep.

"_You're dead?" a man stood in front of me. He was pale, slivery white, almost translucent... and he had no face. He was just an empty white shell. Another figure joined him, a woman. Same face. She repeated his words as she was joined by another figure... and another, and another... all with the same face… no face at all._

_They kept repeating it..._

"_Dead." "Dead!" "Dead?" "Dead." "Dead!" "Dead?" "Dead." "Dead…"_

"_You're dead..."_

_They were laughing at me._

_Taunting me… weren't they?_

_An elderly white figure approached me, she was the only one with a face, and it was wrinkled and creased. I knew her, and she knew me._

"_Gran?" I choked._

_She put her arms around me and smiled, whispering in my ear._

"_We're dead Naruto. Don't let them torment you sweetie... you… you're… different…"_

_There was a sudden flash, images flashed past my eyes so fast I was disorientated._

_I think I saw Mum. She was crying._

_I reached to hug Gran back. But they all dissolved in a white mist._

"_No!" I shouted "come back!"_

_But it was too late._

They were gone.

I woke up, covered in cold sweat.

The third wall had become solid grey stone.

No mist.

No buzzing.

Certainly no whispering.

Maybe I had just dreamed it all. Maybe if I walked out the door, I would find myself back at school... alive.

I flung myself out of the hammock and raced towards the door.

"_You… you're… different…"_ I repeated the phrase over and over in my head. _"Different"?_

_What was 'Different' supposed to mean?_

'_Different' from… dead?_

_But then... it was just some crazy dream._

_That's it... it was just a dream..._

Death faced me. He took one look at my scared pale face and swept into the room I had just left.

"It's gone" he said, staring at the bleak grey wall "the division is gone... you" he spun round to face me "You're..."

"Different" I whispered, my voice horse and tired, he raised an eyebrow arch at me;

"I was going to say 'interesting' actually... very interesting… but I suppose 'different' works too…" he gave me a funny look that seemed to be a mix of curiosity and confusion though possibly it could have been concern.

"What...?" I began to ask. He took a deep breath and resettled his businesslike composure.

"Right, Naruto, I have a job for you, your first job as my Apprentice."

I gave myself a shake, hardly hearing him; I was still shaken from the weird dream.

"Mmmhu" I murmured.

He led me across the misty room, past the middle aged, balding man that Death had been posing as, I guessed he was the elf I'd met earlier. We arrived at the plain brown door marked 'Earth'.

"Put that on"

He held out a solid-looking metal bracelet to me. I took it and squeezed it over my left wrist.

"Right, whatever you do don't take that off or you'll end up stuck as a ghost on Earth. You also have to come back within two hours, or the same thing will happen, the time is engraved to the bracelet, when you go through the door the countdown will start." I stared limply at him.

"I thought we agreed I didn't have to do anything dangerous" my voice sounded tired and weak.

He laughed. Laughing doesn't suit him.

"I never promised that. OK then, you'll go down to Earth for me, don't worry..." he said noting my anxious expression "it's not too dangerous... and you won't be a ghost... well sort of anyway..."

"Not too? Sort of?" I murmured but he ignored me and carried on.

"I need to you to deliver this letter..." he held a long, thin envelope with uneven spidery handwriting scrawled onto it. "...to the address written on it" I stared at the name;

"Mr. F. Uchiha" I read aloud, "Twenty Two Elwood Avenue, Konoha, Fire Country, Earth, Solar System One Thousand Eight Hundred and... Three, the Milky Way, Galaxy Two Hundred and Nineteen, Intergalactic Species Code 'Eleven' – Human Race. N R Nineteen Two, Eight, Three." I looked up at him "Oh come on! …_ seriously_?"

"Very" he replied gravely "Konoha is your home town, so I trust you are able to find this man's house before the two hours and deliver my letter?"

I nodded.

_I mean, how hard could it be?_

I tucked the letter into the pocket of my school trousers, flattened my hair, and wondered if it would take very long.

I didn't even think about the contents of that letter. I thought it didn't concern me…

Death pulled a large set of chunky keys of from his robe sleeve and thrust a long silver key into the lock.

The door opened.

Anything beyond the door was just silvery grey mist.

I took a deep breath and a tiny step. I remember thinking that _anything could be out there... vicious crocodiles, a death pit full of spikes, a man-eating zombies_. Maybe I'd just played too many video-games...

I decided I would jump. I took another step towards the arch of the doorframe.

Here goes nothing.

Or everything.

I bent my knees.

I was ready to jump…

A vice like hand grasped my arm.

I stumbled.

Falling had first through the door and white mist to catch a glimpse of blue before being yanked back by my arm.

Death had an iron grip on my arm.

"What?" I cried.

"I really should tell you that... urm... oh... never mind... you'll find out soon enough anyway..." I raised a exasperated eyebrow at him "go on then... make sure your back within the two hours" He gave me a solid push and I fell tumbling though the curve of the doorway.


	4. Chapter 4

Four

My eyes were squeezed shut, awaiting the impact of solid ground.

I could hear my heart thudding in my chest.

Blood pounded in my ears.

I felt dizzy.

Sick.

I bit my tongue. Tasted blood.

_How far do I have to fall_? I wondered.

…

I still had not hit the ground.

I opened my eyes.

I was hanging in mid-air. As if held by the invisible hand of some God or other.

Below me, I could see row upon row of houses splayed out before me. Roads snaked their way around the houses like grey rivers and birds called to their friends though the clear, blue sky.

It was like viewing the world via the satellite mode on Google maps.

A moving Google maps.

I then realised I was sinking. Slowly. Very slowly.

I could see Konoha town centre, the people bustling round shops, the size of ants to a giant.

I felt like I was a giant and if I reached up my arms I could touch the heavens.

I looked above me, just to be temporarily blinded by the glare of the sun; the door I had tumbled though was nowhere to be seen.

Go figure.

_Only two hours._ I reminded myself.

…And here I was… flying.

_Wait._

My brain started to process the situation.

_People don't fly._

The thought made my stomach flip over and my eyes water.

_If people don't fly… am I not a… not a person anymore?_

_No… that's just stupid…_

_Isn't it?_

I felt the blood draining from my cheeks.

_What would Mum say? To see her boy alive (well… as alive as you can be when you're dead) after all?_

_She'd probably tell me off… for getting involved with Rat Teeth and the others…_

_Maybe she'd be proud of me for helping Sasuke…_

_Never less... I still felt guilty… I'd made her worry._

_And after all… that's what Mum's do best right? Worry._

Then I realised it.

My feet were touching the ground.

I supposed I must have sunk though the air while I was thinking. I stood there, staring around me. I was a little way off the town centre.

I could hear the roar of traffic on the main road through Konoha, where it thundered over the bridge near my house.

I suddenly felt a strong urge to run. Straight for my home. To swing round the door, yelling "Mum, Mum… I'm home. Home!" I felt my feet move under me, I couldn't control them, one foot after the other.

Then I was running.

Almost flying down the street.

Dodging passers-by without a second glance at them.

It was like an onboard Sat-Nav was calling me home "turn left in 300 yards…" I spun round the corner with the force of a tornado.

I didn't think for a second how I'd never been able to run this fast.

Never.

Maybe it was something to do with the desire to go home.

Maybe it was because… I'd died.

Then it happened.

I crashed into a wall.

Slap-bang into the centre of the brickwork.

Cursing my bad luck I reeled backward.

My vision spun out of focus.

My head hurt.

Actually, I had to sit down.

I sank back against the wall.

My legs itched to be back up and running. But my head was aching and the world seemed disorientated.

My central compass was spinning. The 'Sat-Nav' was broken.

I put my head in my hands, trying to steady myself.

That's when I heard the crying.

Great big sobs.

Gasps for breath.

Howling.

Anguished lamentations that struck me to the core.

I took a deep breath and looked around.

My head stopped spinning.

The person continued crying.

I took stock of my surroundings.

I was in an alley. It was slightly wider than a usual alley, with smaller paths running off it. Sound echoed loudly here, in the pokey, run-down part of the world. Elwood Avenue, It was called. A ridiculously posh name for such a derelict part of Konoha. It was like a vain symbol of something unattainable to the residents of the one, dilapidated house before me, surrounded by stiff, brick walls.

You know, it's not far from my house, in fact, my school was just around the corner.

_The place I died._

I felt a sudden chill. Cold. Like clammy hands passing over my skin.

It gave me Goosebumps.

They were still crying.

There was a huge old stately mansion in front of me. Flowers, tea-tables, expensive lawns, the lot.

_I wish._

Actually, if you want the truth.

It was a shabby, two storey house. Peeling paintwork on the front door. A broken window covered by a stiff board of plywood. The bricks were discoloured with age. Chipped grey ties smothered with lichen splattered on the roof, as if the builder had been trying to create some kind of abstract work of art that had gone horribly wrong. The doorframe and window arches were sagging under the weight of the house, giving it a look like it was frowning at me. Cracks in the walls forming angry eyebrows.

It was like the house was trying to outstare me, like it didn't want me there. I felt like an intruder.

I wished it had been at that imaginary mansion.

I wished I'd never gone that way in the first place. But it must have been some magnetic pull to that house.

I wished I had just walked away.

Didn't hesitate.

Ignored the crying.

Gone.

But I'd spotted the number on the door.

22.

It was in swirly dainty lettering. Huge letters. Unmistakable.

22 Elwood Avenue.

I remembered the address on the letter Death had given me; I held it in front of me.

In Death's scrawled writing it read;

22 Elwood Avenue.

I was at the letter's destination.

Maybe it was fate.

The person continued to cry.

I looked around for them, but they must have been up some side alley. The kind of place where drunks and druggies hang out.

The person was whimpering like a wounded puppy now. It was a sort of snuffling series of sobs and coughs, as the person howled.

_I should just post the letter and leave_, I thought, _it's none of my business…_

But something about those cries rooted my feet to the floor.

Like it was crying I'd heard before.

Suddenly I made up my mind.

I dashed up the steps with inhumane speed, shoved the letter though the letterbox, the flapping metal mouth of the box broke free to hang limply by one remaining screw as the letter forced its way through.

I skidded down the steps again, and began to run down each alley.

The person had to be fairly close by (_maybe it's the owner of the house_ - I wondered) or else theirs cries wouldn't have reached me (When I did find them, they turned out to be further away than I thought; maybe my hearing was better too…)

It didn't take me long to find him.

I froze in front of him.

He didn't look up.

He didn't even notice me.

I gasped.

I knew this boy. I recognised him. I couldn't believe it. Of all people…

It was Sasuke.

_No way._

He was sitting with his back against the wall. His head in his arms. Sobbing his heart out.

"Sasuke…" I heard my voice, thin and reedy against his sobs.

He didn't look up.

"What's up Uchiha?" I tried. He didn't seem to notice. Was he ignoring me? No. No... I don't think so... I think...

"Sasuke?" there was a note of panic in my voice.

What was up with him…? I mean could he not hear me…? I was shouting loud enough….was he ignoring me after all or… wait… "Sasuke Uchiha?" I yelled.

_He can't hear me. _I realised at last_. He can't even see me... can he…? _Death didn't tell me that people wouldn't be able to see me… _would my family be able to see me? If I see them… will they even know I'm here?_

"What am I?" I shouted to no-one in particular.

There was no reply.

"Am I some kind of ghost?"

The words of my weird dream came back to me.

"_You're different Naruto" Different…_


	5. Responses to Reviews

Reviews response

Hi guy's... THANKS FOR REVIEWING! You've made me one happy author... all... three of you. :'D

I can't work out how to send responses to reviews on ... sooooo... well... here they are instead... if you didn't review (shame on you but thanks for reading) you may as well just skip onto the next chapter... If I've put it up by the time you read this that is... Mwahahaha XD

To MrsUchihaClan: Ta da! Chapter 4 is up... more chapters on their way :D

To Miribirdy: THANKS! :D :D :D

To Bishie Huntress: Yeah, it didn't really to me either. I was worried my style was pants... I've never written anything like this before... anyhoo... urm... Yeah the Naruto is an amazing tough footballer guy but gets beaten up by bullies was a bit weak... but let's just say these are super-tough-crazy-bullies of doom. (Ok... so I didn't even think of that when writing it... but it seems feasible... right?) Thanks for being interested, I hope you like the rest.

:'3


	6. Chapter 5

Five

I looked down at Sasuke, sighing as I plonked myself down next to him.

I looked at the bracelet thing I'd been given, I'd only been here quarter of an hour according to it…

I looked back the way I'd come, the name 'Uchiha' in shiny black ink showing who the letter was addressed to… it was Sasuke's house…

How did I not realise that earlier? 'Uchiha' isn't exactly a common surname… I mean really... how many Uchiha's do you know?

My millions of unanswered questions began to buzz like flies around in my head…

_Why me? Why is the letter for Sasuke... no... not Sasuke himself... the letter's addressed to a F. Uchiha... his father perhaps? Oh... and what was that weird dream? What was that wall thing? Why did it disappear? What's going on? Will I see my family again…?_ And so on…

Sasuke wiped his eyes on his sleeve beside me. Snivelling he scrambled to his feet, after taking a few, stumbling steps he suddenly slammed his fist against the wall.

"It's all my fault" he sobbed.

I stood up.

I stared at him.

"What's your fault?" I asked. I could feel the worry growing inside me, swelling like a fat rubbery balloon.

But he just stumbled off in the direction of his house.

"What's your fault!" I shouted after him, and it was when he reached the corner; I decided to follow him.

We got to his house and he scurried up the steps and scuttled into the door which had been left unlocked. I slithered in behind him, seeing as he didn't seem to be able to see me…

The hall way was dark. So dark I could hardly see anything. In the gloom, I could make out Sasuke's back as his hands blindly searched for the light switch, he flicked it.

Nothing.

Through the darkness, I could just about see that the bulb hanging above me had been smashed. Sasuke must have noticed this too, as he swore to himself and blundered on in the darkness. Maybe he thought swearing would make him seem like less of a loser. I followed him through, catching my foot something misshapen in the darkness as I walked. I could hear the distant buzz of a TV erupting from the darkness. A thin, watery shaft of pale light slid, fragile against the darkness, from a broken window. It illuminated the skinny figure of a man, slumped on a sagging couch, in front of the dusty television set. The man was thin worth wiry limbs and Sasuke's dark hair and eyes. His face was haggard and tired with dark circles under his eyes and he lounged sideways as the TV blared loudly, its screen flashing and flickering. It showed a newsreader in a smart suit going on about this week's weather. The man snorted loudly colouring the air with swear words, he hadn't even noticed Sasuke standing behind him, or so I'd thought.

"S'kay get m' another beer" his words were thin but slightly slurred as if drunk, but clearly directed at the boy beside me.

Silently, Sasuke turned, took a few steps, and knelt on the floor beside the object I had tripped on previously, which I now realise was a miniature fridge, like the kind some of the popular kids at school had in their bedrooms. He opened it, and removed a can of beer.

"Here, dad…" he mumbled, giving the can to the man.

So this was Sasuke's father…

"heard the post earlier… see if there's a… like… eviction notice again… or a job list… ha!" he laughed as if he was telling some hilariously funny joke that only he understood, but there was a bitterness to his laughter, I think is was regret… though it might have been some element of sadness…

Sasuke disappeared back into the hall.

I stood, watching the tele…

"And now, in our next report. A young boy was found in critical condition in the toilets of Konoha High School. The 15 year old male student has been identified as Naruto Uzumaki" I stare at the screen, leaning in closely "a diligent and kind pupil at the school. Reports state that he had received multiple injuries including a severe head wound. The police suspect three teenage boys who also attend the school, sadly, the boy was hospitalised, and…"

The TV screen suddenly went black.

"No!" I shouted. Sasuke's father swore explosively. He lashed violently out at the TV.

"Stupid bloody…"

He messed with it for a moment. "Plug's fried..." he muttered darkly between swear words.

I think somewhere in my heart just then I was relived. I didn't have to stand there, rooted to the spot, waiting for them to say on television that I'd died. I knew that must have been what was coming next in that report… I knew… or so I thought…

I wish I could have seen the whole of that report just then.

Wish I had known…

Would have saved me a lot of trouble… but… maybe… I wouldn't be friends with Sasuke now if I did.

I mean I'd probably run off and blamed him for everything…

That's the kind of person I was…

Anyway…

Sasuke was coming back.

"Dad?" he asked… His father turned to glare at him, and then his eyes softened on his son;

"Dam tellies dead Sasuke…" he swore again but there was a lost look in his little round eyes.

Sasuke held up a letter in his hand;

"For you"

I looked at it. It was my letter. The one I'd delivered. Surely they'd think the address was some kind of joke? I mean; I had. But when the letter changed hands and I saw the spidery scrawl had changed into that perfectly looped hand writing and it only read;

"Mr. F. Uchiha,

22 Elwood Avenue,

Konoha,

NR15JP"

A normal address. Thank goodness.

His father took the letter, took a deep breath, and tried to act more sober.

"I think it's from the adoption agency" Sasuke whispered to him, his voice was little and frightened. His father's face was set in stone, a mask of fear.

"No…" he hissed "No… they can't take you away… you're… the only one I've got left…"

_What? _I thought. If I'd got that letter from Death himself… how could it be from the adoption agency…? What was he talking about?

"Dad…" Sasuke looked at him "It'll be fine… I'll just tell them you treat me all right and were ok here… we can cope… can't we…?" His voice was tear-stained and desperate. "Do they know about Naruto?"

I froze. _Me? Who? And what would they know about me?_

"I don't know…"

"I don't even know what happened… what if… what if he died? … Dad… It's my fault…" he broke down in sobs. His father put an awkward arm around his son. I realised he was a better Dad than he had first seemed. He did care about Sasuke…

"After Mum died…" Sasuke continued, and from the way his Father flinched I could tell the subject must have been taboo in the house. "I felt… like that was my fault… but it wasn't. Of course it wasn't... but I felt... When Mum got cancer… there was nothing I could have done… but this… I might have killed my only friend…"

I was shocked.

His Mum had had cancer… this… and…

I didn't realise he still thought of me as a friend…

I hadn't known Sasuke's Mum was dead… I have this faded memory of her actually… she was quite beautiful, long soft dark hair and a sweet smile. We were about six at the time, being picked up from little school, back when Sasuke wasn't a geek when… he was my friend…

We used to sit together for lunch, share computer games, and play football… I'd forgotten we used to play football… it's funny, remembering it after all this time. I suppose I just forgot selectively… you know, only remembering what I wanted too, because Sasuke is… no, he was never a geek. I just used to see him like everyone else did. He's not a loser either. I've just realised… That memory of his mother I have; she was a good person. A kind person. I can imagine how he must have fallen apart after she died. In fact I saw how he did. Didn't I?

He shut himself away from the world, and lost all his friends. He did used to have quite a few... I was always his best friend though. And so proud to be. What happened to that pride?

But I started hanging out with Kiba. I must be a terrible person. I'd left him all alone all this time… It was my fault; I turned him away. We were sitting at the lunch table; I'd just made friends with Kiba, (the super-cool new kid, who was brilliant at football and was funny and popular) this it was around the time Sasuke lost his Mum I guess. I got my lunch, as usual, and, as usual, Sasuke had already gotten his, and sat down, saving me a space next to him. This time I had my new friends around me… I was with Kiba. I walked over to Sasuke. He smiled at me. Then…

"Eww, oh come on Naru, you're not REEALLY going to sit anywhere near pathetic little Sasuke here are you?" then the other boys joined in;

"Seriously Naru?"

"I didn't think you were a looser like him…"

"I mean… You can't be mates with us… if your friends with him…"

And now I truly regret the decision I made that day…

I turned my back on him. Not fast enough to not see his face fall. In an instant his happy face turned completely. He looked so sad, and lost and lonely and… little, sitting there on a cheap plastic chair, holding a fork full of mash potato that slowly slid off his fork and plopped onto the plastic dinner tray, landing with a splat in his gravy.

I sat next to Kiba from then on. And didn't talk to Sasuke in lessons. And slowly he changed from being a confidant and grinning boy to the distant geeky loser I thought he was for so long. And… I think it's my fault he's like that… so I'm the one to blame after all… ironic really…

Its horrible realising something is your fault. You get this anger at yourself burning right in the pit of your stomach and you clench your fists and try so hard not to hate yourself. But you do. I was suddenly surprised over all these feelings… because after all I'd done to him… he still thought of me as a friend.

Some friend I'd turned out to be.

Sasuke and his dad were hugging awkwardly, as if both of them needed a hug, but neither quite knew how. They broke apart red faced and tear stained.

"Sasuke. I… I can't look after you properly… I can't… I'm useless…" This was accompanied by… well… some 'colourful' words. "Just look at the house… it's a dump… no one should live here S'kay… you deserve better…"

"Whatever you want dad" Sasuke whispered in a small voice, like a tiny mouse that's just been denied his cheese… there were tears in his eyes.

I felt suddenly so angry. Angry at myself. Angry at social services. Angry at those boys who… killed me… urm… yeah… that sounds weird… believe me… I know…

The doorbell rang.

In fact, it gave us a shrill rendition of jingle bells that made me think that it could only have come from some kind of freaky Christmas cracker.

Sasuke's father lumbered to the door, grunting something about injustice and I followed.

The door was opened.

It was a police man.

All the remaining colour drained from the elder Uchiha's face.

"Can I help you?" he asked, instantly attempting to sound sober.

The cop eyed him suspiciously, as if looking right through him.

"Is Mr. Sasuke Uchiha here?"

Sasuke stuck his head round the door, his glasses lopsided, and his eyes slightly puffy and red;

"That's me, yes…" he said in a small, quiet voice.

"Right. We've investigating the case of Naruto Uzumaki. I believe you have been asked to make a statement, as you were a witness…"

"Yes"

"Please come down to the station with me,"

"Ok"

Sasuke's dad looked down at him as if he were hoping for some kind of defiance from his son.

"Should… should I come?"

Sasuke nods timidly and they leave, not even stopping to collect their coats. I follow them out.

We get into a police car. I tried not to get squashed between Uchiha's father and the car door. We arrived at the station.

A tall, thin policeman, with a bony face walked up to us as we got out of the car. He introduced himself as Chief Inspector Adrian Miles. We followed him in listening to him talking Sasuke through the procedure. As his father waited outside, Sasuke went into a little room with the Inspector, as I followed. The Inspector sat in a large grey armchair, while indicating for Sasuke to take the little plastic chair. I look around; the only other furniture in the room is a plastic desk separates the two people. On it is placed a large, black machine, a notepad and a pencil. The Inspector presses the green button on the tape recorder and starts speaking into it. Sasuke shifts restlessly in his chair.

"... Statement made by Mr. Sasuke Uchiha, Age 15, involving case number 212 of Naruto Uzumaki. Now is it true that you, Sasuke Uchiha were present at the time of the incident?"

"Yes"

"Can you confirm for us that you are in fact Mr. Sasuke Uchiha and that anything you say may be used in court?"

"Yes, ok"

"Great, now, let's see..." He flicked though the notepad to a spare page, picked up a ballpoint pen and wrote a few lines. "Can you confirm that you were friends with the victim?"

"Yes, I've known Naruto since junior school."

"And, can you confirm that the accused are in fact, Mr. J. Hamilton, Mr. S. Wetherby and Mr. R. Robinson, whom are currently evading police custody?"

Rat Teeth, Coconut head and Lumpy Nose. Must be.

"Yes, they've been picking on me for years... bullying... you know..."

"And Naruto? He was a regular victim?"

"No. No... He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... well... he was trying to help me."

"Help you?"

"Yeah. They were picking on me... It should have been me who..." he stifled a sob "Naruto stepped in to stop them from dunking my head in the toilets"

"So he was defending you? Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"And as a result of these actions..."

"Yes."

"Were his actions purely defensive?"

"I don't understand..."

"I mean, did he try to hit the boys, attack them... were they provoked?"

"I... I don't think... Not really." He murmured.

"Ok, and... these boy's, Mr. Hamilton, Wetherby and Robinson... do you have any knowledge of their current whereabouts?"

"No. No... Are they still on the run?"

"They are evading police detection, yes..."

"... Naruto... his injuries... do you think..."

I walked to the door, I had heard enough. The boy's who killed me were apparently still on the run. They were out there still. I pulled hard on the door, and it swung open, resulting in astonished faces from the onlookers. I stared as it swung shut behind me. _I can move stuff around..._ I realised. _No-one can see me... but I can still move stuff around._

Result.

With a smile on my face, I took up a stapler from the receptionist's desk, and made it dance through the air, snapping like a wild dog and spitting staples at people.

My grin widened at the horrified looks on everyone's faces.

This could be useful, very useful.

I looked at the clock in the foyer... twenty-three and a half minutes until I have to go back...

Time for some fun.

Some revenge.


	7. Chapter 6

Six

I knew where they'd be.

The bullies all hang out in warehouse 49. It's unused and run-down and the perfect hiding place for the tough kids at the school. Every kid in school knew they hung out there, no-one dares tell.

I stood before the towering walls of the warehouse and laughed. I flung open the sliding doors. Three boys, one with a rat-like teeth, another with a rounded coconut-shaped head... and another with a lumpy nose stared at sudden appearance of the space between the open doors. I stepped inside.

"Must'a bin the wind." Shrugged Rat Teeth.

"S'ut up... the plan... how we gonna pull it off?"

"We jump him, easy. Uchiha brat won't know what 'it him. We'll get him for landing us in it. He's as good as dead"

Sasuke. Sasuke was in danger... they were planning on killing him... over me?

I picked up a piece of large metal pipe and passed it from hand to hand, in clear view of the boys. All colour drained from their faces...

"Hey, Stan... how's u explain that then... 'Snot the wind...?" Coconut head pointed a juddering finger towards where the pipe floated, seemingly unsupported in mid-air. I chuckled to myself.

"The wind I tell ya..." Rat Teeth was shaking now. I ran towards them, grasping the pipe in one hand. Watching the chunk of metal zoom towards them, Lumpy nose gave a strangled yell and all three boy's ducked as I swished it over their thick heads.

Grabbing pieces of piping I bombarded the boys, as they screamed to high heaven.

"Ghhhhhooooooossssttttt!"

Suddenly, I dipped down the piping as the boys swiped at thin air. Taking a lump of something dark and sticky, like motor grease on the end of it, I smeared letters onto the tin wall in front of the boys...

I... Am... tHe... ghost... oF... Naruto... Uzumaki...

"Nooooooo! You can't be!"

"Rubbish, come on boy's this is just some stupid prank... I..."

I dropped another piece of pipe with a loud clang, revelling as the boys jumped.

This is it; I'll get my revenge for them killing me. Murderer's that's what these... scared... pale faced... boys... that's what they were. Murders... I picked the pipe back up... holding it above their heads as they wailed. They'd killed me... but...

I froze. Tsh. I'm no murdered, I'd had my fun. I couldn't stoop to their level. Disgusted with myself, I slammed the pipe back onto the ground.

The boy's shifted restlessly.

"s'not a ghost right?" Snivelled Lumpy Nose.

"No. Corse not... no such thing... and anyway..."

"Anyway...?"

"Says he's Naruto... an'... he dint die did e?"

I froze.

"He dint die did e?"

He didn't die did he?

He didn't die.

I didn't die.

Not dead.

Didn't die.

What?


	8. Chapter 7

Seven

What?

I didn't die?

Maybe they just didn't know... maybe...

Well, I must be dead... I mean... I had to be... right? But what if I wasn't...

I turned and ran. Ran straight out of the building, down street after street.

Arrived at a bleak white building.

The hospital.

If I still lived. I'd be here.

I could feel it... kinda.

Was it possible...? Could I really...? But all the evidence... the news reports...

They... wait... they never actually said I died...

I remember Gran's words... from that freaky dream... _"You're different"_

Different from the dead...

Still... alive?

I go to the visitor's reception; climb over the desk... the system is automated. On computer... the lady types in the name of the patient the visitor is looking for, and the room number and floor appear on the screen. Then the kind of condition they are in.

Bob Dike; she types. Room 15, floor 2, Intensive care, flashes up on the screen.

Tim Ward, Room 43, floor 3, broken bones.

Naru...ko Smith, Room 11, floor 1, X-rays.

I leaned over the keyboard... pressing in the keys that corresponded to the letters of my name, much to the surprise of the receptionist, so that the name: Naruto Uzumaki flashed up.

I held my breath.

Naruto Uzumaki,

Room 73,

Floor 5,

Coma.

I stared at it.

I was alive... right... unless... it was an old record and...

I had to check for myself...

Leaving the bewildered receptionist, I ran, full pelt up five flights of stairs, scanned the first, long corridor. Rooms 60-70 – read the little plastic sign.

I ran to the next... rooms 70-80.

This was it. Room 73 was in this corridor. It would be here.

I walked along...

70... 71... 72...

Room 73.

This was it.

There were three people outside the room.

"Mum! Dad! Sakura!"

I ran towards them.

They were just standing there, looking through the glass window into room 73.

I froze.

They couldn't see me.

Dad sighed and rubbed his temple. Mum cuddled Sakura.

"He'll wake up won't he?" her big, innocent blue eyes stared up at her mother.

"Yes love"

"Good. Because... I want Mr. Twinkie back you know" She bit her lip.

I glanced at the metal bracelet that told me the time, two and a half minutes until I should return...

I reached over and patted Sakura's soft hair.

"It'll be ok."

I told her, even if she couldn't hear me. But... I didn't know... it probably wouldn't be...

If I went back to Death... well... I don't think... I think the me in this world would...

No... I don't want to think about it.

I opened the door to the room, watching their surprised faces.

"It's not windy in here is it...?" murmured Dad. I could see how worry had deepened the creases on his face.

I walked inside.

And gasped.

It was me.

I walked towards... myself. I lay there, deathly white, barely breathing, unmoving. My eyes were closed. Wires wove their way in and out of my skin, and machines flashed and bleeped. A red, wavy line wiggled on a monitor in perfect time with a high pitched bleep that I felt I had heard somewhere before.

I pressed my fingers to the side of my neck, feeling my pulse. There it was; a soft thumping beat, rhythmic and slow, like it hurt to keep going. It beat in time with the bleeping and the red line.

My heartbeat.

I was alive.

But... for how much longer...

I had already, kind of, died... once... I had no wish to do it again...

I leant over my body...

"Naruto!" I jumped, spun round to face... Death.

"It is time to return to the land of the dead Naruto." He told me.

"But I'm alive!" I shouted... "I'm alive!"

Death smiled... that creepy cold smile that didn't suit his face.

"And when you come back with me, you're heart shall stop forever"

"Then... then I don't want to go back... I want to live! I want to talk to Sakura... and Mum and Dad... I need to apologise to Sasuke... Report those bullies to the police... I need to..."

"The bullies? You're still set on revenge?" His eyes narrowed coldly.

"No. No... I don't want revenge anymore... but... they were planning on attacking Sasuke... I need to report them to the police before he gets hurt."

Death smiled again.

"Then... I see no reason you shouldn't do that."

"But I... wait... what...?"

"I think you're deserving of life Naruto Uzumaki, now..."

His thin spidery fingers latched onto my left wrist and slipped the metal bracelet off.

"Wait... you said... If the bracelet was taken off I would be stuck on Earth as a ghost...?"

"I lied" he grinned. I shuddered. "You can go back to your body now"

"I... I can?"

"Yes. That's what I said..."

"Well... ok... I... thankyou." I found tears in my eyes and a smile on my face.

I took a step towards my body.

"Goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki. Until we meet again."

"Yes... Until we meet again."

And I launched myself towards my body.


	9. Chapter 8

Eight

Numbness. It penetrates the expanse of darkness filling my soul.

Blackness.

Nothingness.

Then... a voice...

"Naruto? Naru? I think... he's coming out of it. Naruto?"

My eyelids flickered, unsure of where I was. My whole body hurt... the pain had been numbed before but now it was there... sharp and real. Blurry faces hovered over me. Voices. Something soft against my cheek. A... pink knitted toy... Mr Twinkie. I felt my heart flutter weakly. Wires, tubes and pipes wormed their way into my skin. My head span. I groaned.

"Naruto, sweetheart... how do you feel?"

My brain took a while to understand the words. I could hear the beeping of the machine that drummed to my heartbeat. My head throbbed worst... I tried to lift a hand, but it felt too heavy.

"Naruto?"

"Feel..." I murmured, as Mum stroked my hair "Glad... t'be... alive."

Mum's tears splashed onto my face, "Naruto..." she kissed my wasted cheek "Yes, yes... I'm glad too"

.

(Sorry for such a short chappie :3 … Responses to Reviews: To juia, thanks, glad you're enjoying the story... mwahaha revenge... or not? Was it a bit disappointing or enough to just freak the baddies out a bit? To distantdreamer104 – Thanks, so happy you like it so far :D :D :D)


	10. Chapter 9

Nine

There were lots of interviews, I got my name in the papers, and I was on TV. I reported the boy's hideout to the police and they were caught and are now face a court sentence. It was around two months before I was well enough to go back to school, and when I did, I was fussed over by students and teachers alike and banned from football. When all the ruckus had died down, I was allowed to participate in sports again.

It was then that I found the courage to talk to Sasuke Uchiha. I begged his forgiveness... he laughed at me for being silly, and we became mates again.

"Hey..." I said "you wanna play footie?"

He grinned.

"Yeah 'Ruto, that'd be cool"

And so... we did... and we beat Kiba's team 6-0.

Man. Life can be good...

When you're not dead... that is...

When you're not Death's Apprentice.

The End

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Such an abrupt end right? *Wipes away tears*. Hope you're not disappointed, and that you enjoyed this funny little story of mine. Thanks for reading. Really, really thanks. Oh... and reviews? Plwese? :3 xxx


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